The Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings have played some huge games over the last four decades, and met often in the playoffs during the 80’s glory days for Edmonton. The last time LAK-EDM played in the postseason, the rosters were overundersidewaysdown. The Kings deployed Wayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri, Charlie Huddy and Marty McSorley. Edmonton? Bernie Nicholls led both teams in scoring during the 1992 matchup, which is the last time these two clubs met in the second season. The teams have met seven times in the postseason, Edmonton winning five and losing in 1982 and 1989. Tonight could go a long way to making sure the two teams don’t see each other in the playoffs this spring.

PIKES PEAK, YEAR OVER YEAR

Oilers in October 2015: 4-8-0, goal differential -7

Oilers in October 2016: 7-2-0, goal differential +10

Oilers in November 2015: 4-7-2, goal differential -6

Oilers in November 2016: 5-8-2 goal differential -3

Oilers in December 2015: 7-6-1, goal differential -9

Oilers in December 2016: 7-2-5, goal differential +3

Oilers in January 2016: 4-5-2, goal differential -5

Oilers in January 2017: 9-4-1, goal differential +8

Oilers in February 2016: 3-8-2, goal differential -18

Oilers in February 2017: 6-6-0, goal differential -2

Oilers in March 2016: 8-8-0, goal differential +5

Oilers in March 2017: 4-2-1, goal differential +6

Oilers after 71, 2015-16: 27-37-7, goal differential -41

Oilers after 71, 2016-17: 38-24-9, goal differential +22

G72 a year ago was a 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators James Neal. Year over year the Oilers are +63 in goal differential and have 24 more standings points. Music! Miles to go and we are heading for another summer of change (imo) but the team is better by a lot based on the standings.

If the Oilers win tonight, the month of March sets up very well. Two games against Colorado coming up, along with 11 points in the first eight games, should mean 15 points (or more) await us at the end of the month. Climbing Pikes Peak has been easier than anticipated so far, but there are traps and hazards to the right and left.

50-MAN LIST

I thought it might be an idea to go over each of these names and project the summer line by line, or, more to the point, contract by contract.

UFA’s (10): I don’t think the Oilers will have enough to sign Kris Russell, unless a more reasonable number will satisfy his demands. Even then, the length of the deal is likely to rich for Edmonton. David Desharnais is showing well offensively in these early days, but we can probably agree it is too early to offer any kind of opinion. Andrew Ference, Matt Hendricks and Jonas Gustavsson are unlikely to return, and Eric Gryba would likely be a training camp invite (again) or a late summer value signing. Jordan Oesterle (listed incorrectly on this graph as an RFA) and Tyler Pitlick are two of the more likely signings from Edmonton’s group. Mark Fraser and Justin Fontaine are later items, say August, but Fontaine probably fits the Oilers needs pretty well on a two-way deal.

RFA’s (14): Leon Draisaitl is the top priority and I think we have talked ourselves into a bridge. This will be the free agent contract of summer for Oilers fans. Zack Kassian’s deal is also important, and I’m not saying it writes itself, but we should be able to get it surrounded by saying two years times something reasonable. A bunch of no-brainers: Griffin Reinhart, Jujhar Khaira, Joey Laleggia, Dillon Simpson, are followed by an even longer list of players who are likely to ease on down the road: Anton Lander, Bogdan Yakimov, Henrik Samuelsson, Jere Sallinen, Zach Pochiro, David Musil, Eetu Laurikainen. I will tell you, the only difficult decision for me is Iiro Pakarinen, and only because Todd McLellan appears to value him. Then again, maybe the call is to move him along because the coach relies on him.

Signed but in junior for one more year (1): Tyler Benson remains a substantial prospect if he can stay healthy, but he is already losing precious development time due to injury ala Marc Pouliot.

New Hires (3): Caleb Jones, Ethan Bear, Ryan Mantha all begin their pro careers in the fall and each of them should be considered bona fide prospects. We learned a long time ago, during the Jeff Petry-Taylor Chorney-Cody Wild era, that when three arrive at the station chances are only one will ride it to the end of the line. I do think this is a very promising group.

Matriculating from way back in pro (5): Braden Christoffer, Kyle Platzer, Greg Chase, Patrick Russell, Ben Betker. I’m not saying these five men are doomed to fail, only that their pro resumes don’t resemble those of previous NHL players during their development years. We haven’t seen them emerge as strong and productive AHL players on a consistent basis.

Signed Players Maybe Probably Leaving (2):Mark Fayne is probably going to get bought out, and I think Peter Chiarelli will try to move Benoit Pouliot. That is not the same as me saying it is a good idea, but BP will go if they can find a way imo.

Leaving if Necessary (2): Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Jordan Eberle may have to go in order to re-set the cap. Based on rumors and discussion, Nuge to Carolina for Justin Faulk seems to be the kind of move we could see. Eberle? Maybe to Brooklyn for Hamonic? Maybe it’s a bigger deal and Strome comes over, too? We wait, and of course the playoffs could change everything.

Heart of the Order (10):Connor McDavid is going to sign a contract with many numbers and several commas. He will be worth more than the contract. The other nine men in the heart of the order look like this: Patrick Maroon, Milan Lucic, Mark Letestu, Oscar Klefbom, Adam Larsson, Andrej Sekera, Darnell Nurse, Cam Talbot, Matt Benning.

POSSIBLE 50-MAN AFTER THE CULLS, BEFORE THE PROCUREMENT

If Peter Chiarelli sandpapers the 50-man down to 34 (one slide rule: Tyler Benson) that should give him plenty of room to wheel.

I think the Oilers are going to count on Jesse Puljujarvi for a second-line role, but also have plenty of backup in Tyler Pitlick, Anton Slepyshev and even Zack Kassian. For this reason, I think Eberle is the less likely of the Steve Austin’s to be moved this summer.

The Edmonton Oilers have a criminal lack of depth in terms of scoring wingers. It’s really a concern. I think we will see a substantial number of CHL and NCAA free-agent forwards signed (like three or four if you include AHL deals).

If they can afford to move Leon back to center, and keep Nuge, that is the best center depth chart east of Pittsburgh, in my opinion.

I kept Benoit Pouliot because there is no obvious replacement for him. Seriously. If Benson had drilled the WHL for 92 points (that was his pace), or Drake Caggiula had scored 15 goals, or Jujhar Khaira had a little more offense, we could talk. The one guy on the roster who may have the chops to do it? Anton Slepyshev, but we still don’t have him surrounded offensively.

Zack Kassian may have more offense in him than previously shown. His 5×5/60 numbers over his career suggest a full 82-game schedule with skill might bring out a 15-goal man at evens. That has value. With scoring wingers at a premium, I think Kassian and Pitlick are signed and make the team in the fall.

In looking at this list, one thing Peter Chiarelli has been doing from day one of arrival: Build up the middle.

Eric’s statement is going to be a key element for the 2017-18 season. The Oilers will have fewer bonus contracts (Leon, Reinhart) to deal with, so JP can run free and of course he has an additional year of experience. If the Oilers can replace this year’s RW skill lines depth chart (Leon-Eberle) with Eberle-Puljujarvi and get 45-50 goals, that will go a long way to solving the scoring riddle on this team. That’s one reason why the theme on this blog through spring and early summer is going to be Nuge as more vulnerable to trade than Eberle.

STANDINGS

I haven’t talked about it much this morning, because it is so obvious. The loss in Calgary last night was devastating for the Kings, and a loss in regulation tonight probably brings out the death rattle. Are the Oilers a team that can close? We see the Flames put that game away impressively last night, let’s see if Edmonton can do the same.

LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE

It’s Monday, rise and shine! Spring too, people! We hit the air running at 10 this morning, TSN1260. Scheduled to appear:

Scott Burnside, ESPN. The Art Ross and Hart race are on fire! Plus, we are getting closer to knowing who makes the playoffs, but matchups are still a blur.

Kent Wilson, Flames Nation. Calgary looks very, very good.

Jason Gregor, TSN1260. Brady jerseys, NCAA brackets, Oilers-Kings.

Sunil Agnihotri, Copper & Blue plus The SuperFan. What to expect from this week.

10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter.

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490 Responses to "G72 2016-17: KINGS AT OILERS"

With Fayne and Pouliot likely out and one of RHN and Ebs traded, even with Leon and Connor’s new deals we should have some cap room to sign a scoring winger.

I’d consider this more vital than keeping the gang together, as the balance picture isn’t there, and we don’t have anyone other than Puljujarvi ready to jump up, and there’s still concerns he can light the lamp at the NHL level.

Unless we can move an Austin for a RH defenseman, we should sign Russell to a reasonable deal. I really don’t think a Faulk will shake loose with the assets we have to move. GMs are still gunshy, and RNH/Eberle have much less value than Hall did last year.

He plays well in our defensive zone system, and signing one of the the limited options in FA will be more expensive and taking a chance if they can defend in our system, or pull another Fayne leaking opposition quality chances.

A non-shootout win tonight would pull us level with Anaheim, and tied on ROW. What’s the second tiebreaker?

It seems to me that for years now, the Oilers have been the first stop on the western canadian road trip. Night one in Edmonton, two in Calgary, night three off, night four in Vancouver. Seemed to me like that was the play 80% of the time.

I’m sure that’s an overstatement but that’s what it felt like.

Seems to me we’re getting the second night of a back to back after Calgary more often than not this year.

McPhee is going to be PC’s best friend in June, as we try to round out our NHL team. Several players that PC should be interested in, will shake free as they can’t be protected by deeper teams. McPhee’s auction will be a great opportunity us, as our unprotected list of players are not likely in the VGK starting 23.

If Josh Anderson or Michael Grabner are exposed, they could round out our roster, very nicely.

A non-shootout win tonight would pull us level with Anaheim, and tied on ROW. What’s the second tiebreaker?

The NHL site has a section on how to handle tie breakers:

“If two or more clubs are tied in points during the regular season, the standing of the clubs is determined in the following order: The fewer number of games played (i.e., superior points percentage).The greater number of games won, excluding games won in the Shootout. This figure is reflected in the ROW column. The greater number of points earned in games between the tied clubs. If two clubs are tied, and have not played an equal number of home games against each other, points earned in the first game played in the city that had the extra game shall not be included. If more than two clubs are tied, the higher percentage of available points earned in games among those clubs, and not including any “odd” games, shall be used to determine the standing. The greater differential between goals for and against for the entire regular season. NOTE: In standings a victory in a shootout counts as one goal for, while a shootout loss counts as one goal against.”

Also, that elbow from Somethingchuk on Doughty last night was nasty…

The Battle of Alberta will certainly be back if Oilers and Flames meet in the first round and What’shischuk does something dirty like that to an Oiler.

Lloyd B.:
I’m not sure they buy out Fayne this year.Keep him in the AHL to mentor all the young guys coming in.

Frees up cap for McDavid signing with no trailing money in 18/19.

I agree. The last thing you want to do is push contracts or parts of contracts back into Macdavids next contract.
I also think Eberle goes before Nuge. Tmac has already shown a willingness, if not eagerness, to utilize Drai as a scoring winger and we actually have pretty reasonable depth at the right wing position.
The only reason to trade Nuge would be because he probably has a lot more trade value than Eberle. Unless Eberle goes on a big run down the stretch and through the playoffs we are likely to be disappointed in the return.
I like the sound of an Eberle for Hamonic deal but think we would have to add Caleb Jones plus to make it happen.

– Great post LT! I like these really meaty ones. Someone will break down the math in terms of salary cap available. I thought we were one of the better teams next year in terms of free salary to sign roster/acquisitions.

– So I’m in Fort-Lauderdale with the family. We are walking around this area Las Olas. The Panthers have this tent booth set up for the Florida Panthers: “Mullet March” So cute and bush

– For $19 per ticket, lower bowl ticket and Jagr tank-top for the game on the 21st vs. Carolina

– You spin this cheap spin-wheel and win a prize. Like a high-school prom ticket drive

texmex:
Lowetide, I have to ask and I apologize if you have answered this before.

NHL.com has the Oilers at +21 goal differential and you have them at +22?

NHL.com’s standings include ersatz shootout “goals” which are not otherwise counted in any stats. Those same standings show Oilers are 4-5 in shootouts this year, meaning you can subtract 4 and 5 from GF and GA respectively, reducing Edmonton’s numbers from +207/-186 = +21 to +203/-181 = +22.

Those lower numbers of real goals are in fact what is reported on NHL.com’s team stats.

That reduced total Does include empty net goals, which are real in the sense that they are scored in an actual game setting with stats awarded. They too can skew things somewhat; in the Oilers case they have scored 9 goals 5v6 and have allowed 7 at 6v5. So to count “real goals scored against goalies” you’d have to subtract those out too and arrive at +194/-174 = +20.

Jethro Tull: Why?This isn’t your Mama’s LA Kings.Nor are we the same team.We used to settle in with popcorn and watch 60mins of Doughty beating the crap out of Hall with no calls.

Whilst the Kings do have the capability to beat us, the odds are against them for a change.

And i don’t thing Connor or Cam thinks like that either.It’s just another team to them.

Flames showed that speed and quick transition of the puck from D make the Kings look pedestrian.

Oilers have to use their speed and while our D do not move the puck as well as the Flames D, our D are miles better than previous years at moving the puck efficiently. Along with the Oilers matching the Kings physically, we have the tools stomp on the Kings throats.

I think the Oilers are going to count on Jesse Puljujarvi for a second-line role, but also have plenty of backup in Tyler Pitlick, Anton Slepyshev and even Zack Kassian. For this reason, I think Eberle is the less likely of the Steve Austin’s to be moved this summer.

If the Oilers have lots of backup on RW, wouldn’t that make Eberle more likely to be moved?

I think the Oilers are going to count on Jesse Puljujarvi for a second-line role, but also have plenty of backup in Tyler Pitlick, Anton Slepyshev and even Zack Kassian. For this reason, I think Eberle is the less likely of the Steve Austin’s to be moved this summer.

If the Oilers have lots of backup on RW, wouldn’t that make Eberle more likely to be moved?

What will it take for McLellan for move Drai off of McDavid’s wing and bring back the 3C forward configuration? This team’s record and underlying numbers have generally diminished since Drai was moved to RW, and a lot of it has to do with the weakness in the bottom six. The Oilers are around 47% CF at evens the last 25 games. That screams first round fodder to me.

russ99:
With Fayne and Pouliot likely out and one of RHN and Ebs traded, even with Leon and Connor’s new deals we should have some cap room to sign a scoring winger.

I’d consider this more vital than keeping the gang together, as the balance picture isn’t there, and we don’t have anyone other than Puljujarvi ready to jump up, and there’s still concerns he can light the lamp at the NHL level.

Unless we can move an Austin for a RH defenseman, we should sign Russell to a reasonable deal. I really don’t think a Faulk will shake loose with the assets we have to move. GMs are still gunshy, and RNH/Eberle have much less value than Hall did last year.

He plays well in our defensive zone system, and signing one of the the limited options in FA will be more expensive and taking a chance if they can defend in our system, or pull another Fayne leaking opposition quality chances.

A non-shootout win tonight would pull us level with Anaheim, and tied on ROW. What’s the second tiebreaker?

Pretty much agree with all of this.

Unless the groundwork of a Steve Austin trade was laid down at the trade deadline, I doubt we see any of the Steve Austins moved this summer – it takes a long time to put together a deal like that these days – as you say (and many others have written about) the GMs are gun shy.

LT – you’ve talked about finding the next “Pisani” to mentor our up-coming young guys – I wonder if Kassian isn’t already that guy. Big, fast, aggressive, and smart defensively. Both guys battled through personal issues. Kassian can play up and down the lineup in any role required, except 1st line scoring winger. A very good pickup by Chia. He’ll get exposed in the expansion draft, but I have no doubt McPhee will pass given the personal history.

UFAs: I don’t think they should re-sign Russell. I think they have better left-handers in Klefbom, Sekera and Nurse and they have better right-handers in Larsson and Benning. I think Russell will want too much money and term to be a left-hander playing 3rd pair right side. Desharnais is interesting but I believe the Oilers will either have a better option at #1RW and Draisaitl will go back to #2C. If anything, they should sign Lander so he is eligible as a C to expose with 70+ games in the past 2 seasons. That would mean that they would probably lose one of Khaira, Letestu or Lander on forward and could protect Pouliot. I would be ecstatic with McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins, and one of Letestu, Lander, Caggiula, Desharnais, Khaira. They could also go to the UFA market and chase former Golden Bear Derek Ryan for around $2M, who’s had a great season, winning 56.6% of faceoffs and is 30 years old.

RFAs: I think the no-brainers (Reinhart, Khaira, LaLeggia, Simpson) can be signed for the minimum raise. As mentioned earlier, Lander should be signed to expose. Henrik Samuelsson is still intriguing at the minimum raise. I would seriously consider letting Oesterle and Simpson go for pennies. I like them, but I think they are stuck behind a lot of left side depth and they may not be needed on the right side either.

In Junior: Fingers crossed for Benson.

New Hires: I do feel that Bear, Jones and Mantha hold a bit more promise than the trio of Petry, Chorney and Wild. Although Petry and Chorney were drafted quite high, they never showed the promising offensive abilities in lower levels like the current youngsters. And none of Petry, Chorney or Wild were considered big players. While although Bear is only 5’11, he is 205lbs, and, although Petry is 6’3”, he is still under 200lbs. Petry didn’t become a full time NHLer until his draft+6 season. We’re already wondering if Bear and Mantha will push for NHL time next season in their draft+3 and draft+4 seasons on a deeper team.

Matriculating: I see promise in Betker every fall and can’t help but feel his development has been postponed by the crazy left-hand D depth in front of him. Every time I see him play, I am impressed by his game, his skating, his stickhandling and his physicality. D take longer to develop, and there has been some evidence that big D can take even longer. So I think they should try to keep Betker in the system and give him some more at-bats.

Probably Leaving: I hope they hold onto Pouliot and find a way to expose other forwards to meet their expansion draft obligations. Even with his terrible season, Pouliot is 125th in 5-on-5 Primary Pts / 60 in the NHL over the past 2 seasons (of players likely to reach the 70 game plateau). That is a better than average 2nd line player. Better than average being the top 135 forwards (90 1st line players, and 45 2nd line players). Only McDavid (3rd), Lucic (94th), and Draisaitl (98th) are better. Maroon is 139th, and Eberle is 159th. Thus McDavid, Lucic, Draisaitl, Pouliot, Maroon and Eberle are bonafide top 6 players. Desharnais is 191st, Nugent-Hopkins is 219th, Kassian is 252nd to round out the top 9 players. Pakarinen is 285th, Letestu is 372nd, Hendricks is 385th, and Lander is 408th out of 414 total players meeting the criteria. Lander’s amazing AHL season may be enough to entice Vegas, so he would be my pick to sign to an extension and expose him instead of Pouliot.

If Necessary: I think moving Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle would be a mistake. Those are difficult players to find. Of course, I would never say never, depending on the return like a Trouba or something similar.

Pushing for Bigger roles: I agree with that assessment completely. I think Nick Ellis may overtake Brossoit. Caggiula may not turn into more than a Justin Fontaine or JT Brown. Top end would be Cam Atkinson. Slepyshev has looked so good lately. I hope he finds his confidence to become the sniper he was once touted to be and made him the 1st overall KHL pick.

Ziyat Paigin is the big mystery. I would love to know what happened to this season. His last season was simply too good to be an island in his career. I hope they sign him soon after his KHL team is finished this spring and get him over to a few games in the AHL.

I also hope they sign Edmonton born Spencer Foo after his NCAA season to help out on RW depth.

LAK at EDM – The good guys looked like pure shite vs The Dynasties and I doubt they get away with that tonight, even with LAK playing last night in CGY. This could be the dagger into LAK’s heart and they need to get on them early and often. GOILERS!!!!

ARI at NSH – NSH and STL racing for 3rd in Central to avoid CHI in the first round

SJS at DAL – SJS lost to ANA at home. DAL has no D, but Lehtonen is above average this year 5v5. Gotta take SJS but its not in stone.

CBJ wins tiebreak with WSH due to Head to Head results as they are tied in ROW.

MTL probably a lock to win Atlantic and match up well with NYR.

EC games tonight:

BOS at TOR – should be a good game. I wonder if Babcock takes credit for Chara’s career? If BOS wins they have a nice lead to finish 3rd in Atlantic to play OTT. If not, that will be a good race to watch down the stretch.

BUF at DET – DET is a -150 favourite, but Mzarek probably starts and he’s having a tough season. I’d hit BUF with a few units there.

I think Mcdavid needs to hit 100 points to be a lock for the Art and Hart trophies this year. He’s at 80 with 12 games left. He needs to go supernova and has the schedule in his favour (2x COL, 2x VAN). Can he pull 20 points in 12 games? I think he has it in him.

The Kings will probably be more desperate than the Oilers and that is a recipe for disaster. If the Oilers come out and match the urgency and intensity of the Kings, they have more skill and will probably win the game.

frjohnk: If they are moving one of EBERLE/Nuge to free up cap space, I think EBERLE is the one to go.He is easier replaced.

Trade Nuge and if Drai or McDavid get hurt you have

1. Drai/McDavid
2.
3.
4.Letestu

They dont like Lander, so nobody on the wings or the AHL, jr even close to being a bonifide center.

Maybe Khaira, but he has been a question mark so far in the NHL and that was him playing the wing

Absolutely. Wingers are easiest to get, but that also limits their value. Maybe they can sign a 3C UFA. I’m also of the mind that Nuge would be a better RW than Eberle. He’s younger, heavier, faster, better on the boards and of course can cover centre. Keep the best players.

I don’t disagree that RNH will likely be the next one of the Austins traded over Eberle, but if it comes to pass without TMac at least trialing Nuge as a W, I’ll be pissed.

Reasons being:

If TMac were to trial RNH alongside McDavid at LW and he thrives, than you’ve got some nice options.

1) Your LW depth then includes RNH, Maroon, Lucic. You can now trade and/or pare salary from a position of relative strength. If Nuge were to produce as a Top 6 W, and with Maroon and Kassian on the rise, you could even make a tenable argument that Lucic as one of three power forwards is a luxury and thus a hugely valuable trade asset. Conversely, Maroon would fetch a lot on the trade block should his trade demands go too high as a result of the McDavid zoom.

2) All of Pitlick, Kassian and JP could be rounding out into potential Top 6 RW form. Certainly not as certain as the LW depth atm, but I think the thought process has to be that Puli is the projected 1RW on Connor’s line. Thus what what you’d be looking to replace in dealing Eberle is not your 1RW but your eventual 2RW. Pitlick and Kassian could potentially elevate enough to compete for that role.

3) Keeping RNH as a LW also gives you that roster flexibility to move him back to C if McDavid or Leon is injured. That is something Eberle can simply never provide.

I think Nuge is the one going. I can’t imagine them not shifting Drai back to center, most GMs don’t look at a big center and say Nah. Centers get paid more than wingers so I’m sure Drai would rather play C. Chia already stated that you can’t have too much money tied to that 3c especially on one that still can’t win a faceoff. I’m guessing Nuge to Carolina or Jersey in offseason and no he’s no bringing Faulk back as a return

Bag of Pucks:
I don’t disagree that RNH will likely be the next one of the Austins traded over Eberle, but if it comes to pass without TMac at least trialing Nuge as a W, I’ll be pissed.

Reasons being:

If TMac were to trial RNH alongside McDavid at LW and he thrives, than you’ve got some nice options.

1) Your LW depth then includes RNH, Maroon, Lucic. You can now trade and/or pare salary from a position of relative strength. If Nuge were to produce as a Top 6 W, and with Maroon and Kassian on the rise, you could even make a tenable argument that Lucic as one of three power forwards is a luxury and thus a hugely valuable trade asset. Conversely, Maroon would fetch a lot on the trade block should his trade demands go too high as a result of the McDavid zoom.

2) All of Pitlick, Kassian and JP could be rounding out into potential Top 6 RW form. Certainly not as certain as the LW depth atm, but I think the thought process has to be that Puli is the projected 1RW on Connor’s line. Thus what what you’d be looking to replace in dealing Eberle is not your 1RW but your eventual 2RW. Pitlick and Kassian could potentially elevate enough to compete for that role.

3) Keeping RNH as a LW also gives you that roster flexibility to move him back to C if McDavid or Leon is injured. That is something Eberle can simply never provide.

I don’t think people realize how expensive a 6 million winger is. That cap hit ties you for 7th in the league for LW and 8th in the league for RW. That would mean we have 3 of the 15-20 most expensive wingers in the league.

I think Nuge is the one going.I can’t imagine them not shifting Drai back to center, most GMs don’t look at a big center and say Nah.Centers get paid more than wingers so I’m sure Drai would rather play C. Chia already stated that you can’t have too much money tied to that 3c especially on one that still can’t win a faceoff.I’m guessing Nuge to Carolina or Jersey in offseason and no he’s no bringing Faulk back as a return

Drai and McDavid have both played center on the number 1 line.
Drai has actually taken more faceoffs than McDavid.

McLellan has said he likes having more than 1 natural center on a line. So there is no reason why the Oilers could not have Nuge, McDavid and Drai all in the top 6.

They could definitely trade Nuge, but I would expect at least 2 new centers coming from outside the organization in combination of in that deal/ another deal and UFA.

Bag of Pucks:
I don’t disagree that RNH will likely be the next one of the Austins traded over Eberle, but if it comes to pass without TMac at least trialing Nuge as a W, I’ll be pissed.

Reasons being:

If TMac were to trial RNH alongside McDavid at LW and he thrives, than you’ve got some nice options.

1) Your LW depth then includes RNH, Maroon, Lucic. You can now trade and/or pare salary from a position of relative strength. If Nuge were to produce as a Top 6 W, and with Maroon and Kassian on the rise, you could even make a tenable argument that Lucic as one of three power forwards is a luxury and thus a hugely valuable trade asset. Conversely, Maroon would fetch a lot on the trade block should his trade demands go too high as a result of the McDavid zoom.

2) All of Pitlick, Kassian and JP could be rounding out into potential Top 6 RW form. Certainly not as certain as the LW depth atm, but I think the thought process has to be that Puli is the projected 1RW on Connor’s line. Thus what what you’d be looking to replace in dealing Eberle is not your 1RW but your eventual 2RW. Pitlick and Kassian could potentially elevate enough to compete for that role.

3) Keeping RNH as a LW also gives you that roster flexibility to move him back to C if McDavid or Leon is injured. That is something Eberle can simply never provide.

leadfarmer: I don’t think people realize how expensive a 6 million winger is.That cap hit ties you for 7th in the league for LW and 8th in the league for RW.That would mean we have 3 of the 15-20 most expensive wingers in the league.

GMB3: I think that’s far too outside of the box for TM but I like the idea of that lineup. I think RNH matches up best with McDavid in terms of skillset.

One thing I like about those lines is the possibility of two big wingers with heavy shots (Lucic and Sleppy) on either side of Desharnais who seems to be a decent disher. In his short stay here, DD’s also shown a talent for being around the net to tap in rebounds. With Looch and Sleppy on this line, there would likely be a lot of pucks popping loose in the blue paint to pounce on.

I could very easily see
McDavid Drai new acquisition Latestube as our Cs

Personally I would run
McDavid Drai Nuge as Cs for 18 min per game with Latestube getting whatever’s left as 4th line and PK minutes and slot in as additional defensive help. Cause when you have McDavid Drai and Nuge as C the last thing you should be asking is but what about the 4th line especially when the coach puts dead weight like Hendricks on the 4th line

Unless we can move an Austin for a RH defenseman, we should sign Russell to a reasonable deal. I really don’t think a Faulk will shake loose with the assets we have to move. GMs are still gunshy, and RNH/Eberle have much less value than Hall did last year.

He plays well in our defensive zone system, and signing one of the the limited options in FA will be more expensive and taking a chance if they can defend in our system, or pull another Fayne leaking opposition quality chances.

Signing Russell to anything longer than a one year deal is a big mistake in a flat cap world. Only core players deserve duration.

The job of a coaching staff is to coach up non-core players to fill holes in the roster, and these (in a flat cap world) will change from year to year.

I supported the signings of Russell and Gryba last fall to one year deals. I have no problem re-signing them to one year deals.

If somebody offers them more, than, like Belichek, one moves on. There will be other “Russell’s” waiting for a contract in September next year.

LA, Boston, and Tampa have got themselves into cap catastrophes by signing non-core players to duration. So far only Yzerman has been managing to keep his head above water.

Chicago has been willing to move on from players by correctly identifying their core, and being able to move on from guys.

russ99: RNH is too timid. McDavid needs finishers, cyclers and guys who go to the net. RNH is none of these.

Once zone entry is achieved, McDavid and RNH play the same role, behind the circles puck-carrier/distributor.

Having both on one line would limit offense.

That is a possibility I’ve considered as well. But fair to say, it would be good to see it first before arriving at that conclusion definitively? I definitely see McDavid and RNH as cut from similar cloth (albeit RNH’s cloth is steel and Connor’s is adamantium). They’re both pass first transporters with sneaky good wristshots.

That’s one of the reasons I actually think they could work well together. Because they play that way, they both know inherently where/how they like to take their shots from and when they’re more inclined to pass. For that reason, they could potentially anticipate and read off each other very well. It’s also why I suggested Kassian as the cycle/netfront element. Definitely would need someone on that line to do the dirty work.

You see it on occasion, Maroon’s tip in goal from Connor’s pass across against Boston, where the attack comes off the rush. But not as much imo as should be. Ala Gretz and Kurri, pair Connor with a transporter that’s able to work the give and go with him at speed, and you might see a lot more goals off the rush.

Neither of the Sedins are grit first players, but they seem to make it work as a duo.

– He’s been a C all his career.If he gets traded he’s going to be playing C.If he isn’t good enough to be crushing it in his role as #2C on this team, he should be traded.

– You “protect” Drai by putting him on wing, because he’s not ready to be #2C.You don’t “demote” your incumbent #2C to winger, and put a worse #2C in his place.

– So if RNH is playing himself out of a job by not doing what the coach wants out of the 2C, they aren’t going to put him on wing: it just doesn’t make sense.

I think Leon at 2C with Maroon and Ebs at his side could drive results and not be a downgrade on RNH. But ultimately, that’s the value of trying it. Can RNH score more a W? Can Leon carry a line against tough ops? Eventually these are good questions to get answers to.

Btw, what about Andrew Cogliano? The Ducks have benefited from a positional change from C to W that the Oil simply wouldn’t or couldn’t make when they had the player.

Read the Monday Mailbag talking about Lucic’s leadership, veteran presence. To me the biggest change has been in truculating the Oilers – the other players seem more relaxed and confident than when they were getting punked and trash talked.

By having 5-6 guys that push back I see a definite change in other team’s attitudes toward Edmonton. At this point they could replace some agro with skill and it wouldn’t be a step back. A pretty dramatic one season change along with the other things. So Lucic is definitely a big part of that.

Bag of Pucks: That is a possibility I’ve considered as well. But fair to say, it would be good to see it first before arriving at that conclusion definitively? I definitely see McDavid and RNH as cut from similar cloth (albeit RNH’s cloth is steel and Connor’s is adamantium). They’re both pass first transporters with sneaky good wristshots.

That’s one of the reasons I actually think they could work well together. Because they play that way, they both know inherently where/how they like to take their shots from and when they’re more inclined to pass. For that reason, they could potentially anticipate and read off each other very well. It’s also why I suggested Kassian as the cycle/netfront element. Definitely would need someone on that line to do the dirty work.

You see it on occasion, Maroon’s tip in goal from Connor’s pass across against Boston, where the attack comes off the rush. But not as much imo as should be. Ala Gretz and Kurri, pair Connor with a transporter that’s able to work the give and go with him at speed, and you might see a lot more goals off the rush.

Neither of the Sedins are grit first players, but they seem to make it work as a duo.

I see your point, but goals on the rush dry up vs. good/desperate teams. And we have one player who can consistently score off the rush.

We’re going to have to work for every goal tonight, case in point.

IMO, rush goals were more of a focus when we were a weaker team and not a real threat. Now with playoff elimination/positioning on the line, this won’t happen often (something like the Pens game the exception, not the rule) and we better be set to reacquire or defend if the rush doesn’t work.

If we get them, I’m all for it, but that shouldn’t be the determining factor of how we should set up.

For some reason Oiler fans seem to think that games against VCR are points in the bank. While I watched the game the other night I saw the Canucks outplaying the Oil for long stretches. They have pride and play the Oilers tough. While we should beat them, there certainly aren’t any guarantees. They make me nervous.

Alexander Radulov 30 year old RW
Martin Hanzal 30 year old C
Karl Allzner 28 year old dMan
Dmitry Kulikov 26 year old dman
Nick Bonino 29 year old C
Kris Russell 30 year old dman
Thomas Griess 31 year old goalie

As a centreman you’re effectively the third defensemen, so moving an astute defensive player like RNH to the wing to accommodate someone weaker defensively doesn’t make sense as a tactic. The idea seems to be that RNH will score more as a winger but he’s going to have the same tendencies in the ozone as he does as a centreman.

If you want him to score more points so you can feel a bit better about his cap hit, then move him to Drai’s spot on the first PP unit and have Drai anchor the second unit. There should be enough of a McDavid bump on the PP to help Nuge’s boxcars look better. But really who honestly cares if you have a few 6 million players on your second and third lines next season? McDavid’s making the first line ultra cost effective for one more season, and Pittsburgh gets away with having 8 mil Kessel on the third line half the time.

Might as well enjoy the unicorns for one more season while you can. Moving RNH or Ebs for 80 cents on the dollar this offseason probably doesn’t push you closer to the Cup next season and likely won’t result in any improvement in cap efficiency. The likely replacements for those two come in the form of Hanzal or Oshie making 5.5-6 mil well into their declining years.

– I get the Cogs analogy on paper.In practice you don’t have RNH @ $6M to “coglianoize”

– Get a “colgliano” for $3MM, and rid yourself of an ineffective $6MM RNH as 2C

*I do not know if RNH is ineffective as #2C: I just know that in order to win a cup, you need a better C performance than this year.And Chia: can he afford to wait and see if RNH “bounces” back?

I definitely agree there’s some urgency to sorting this out. It’s why I’m keen that TMac find out asap if RNH is a viable Top 6 W. As a C, this will be RNH’s second consecutive disappointing season from a points production pov, so definitely agree that hoping for a bounceback season from him at C next year would be wishful thinking in the max.

RNH is better defensively than Eberle, better skater, bigger, but lags behind him in point production. If RNH closes that production gap on the W beside McDavid, then he may get the nod over Eberle. But as it stands now, I agree with LT. They’ll part with Nuge over Eberle. The X factor may be the intangibles in RNH’s game that the HC values whereas when Eberle slumps in a big way, as he did this season, you’re not getting much else out of his game.

If the Oilers have lots of backup on RW, wouldn’t that make Eberle more likely to be moved?

I should have said ‘proven’, as the Oilers have plenty of options but not many proven ones. I also think you could trade Nuge (which I don’t want to do) and replace his two-way skills for much less. If Leon is moving back to center, running Eberle-Puljujarvi seems a reasonable way forward. Counting on Pitlick (injury), Slepys (unproven) or Kassian (he might be the best option to be honest) for 1R and 2R offense seems a stretch. Eberle may be the one to get to the end of his contract among the Austins.

Slepyshev is last. He’s an end of the roster player right now, albeit improving. Yet Twitter is agog that he has been dropped from the line-up for this one game, and the coach is, of course, an idiot. Despite the ironic fact that the Twitterers themselves cannot agree on who should come out.

One night before a playoff game in London, It was reported that then Knights owner, GM and head coach, Dale Hunter was doing to shuffle the lines and play son Dylan and nephew Logan Hunter on either side of now infamous Oiler draft pick, Robbie Shremp.

Shremp, being Shremp sees Dale Hunter as he walks in the dressing room and says, “so Hunts, are we playing to win tonight or are you playing the family?”

I am sure Dale Hunter was unimpressed, but somehow I find that story especially funny today.

Another Nuge point is that in the 282 mins he’s played with Kris Russell, he’s running at 42.8 CF% and 15.4 GF%. 15.4! That’s insane!

In the 2/3 of the time where he’s away from Russell, he’s at a nice 50 GF% and 52.1 CF%. A lot of players do fare better away from Nuge than with Nuge, but a lot of those players spent their other minutes with a mild to high dosage of 97.

Also presumed heir to the 2C throne, Leon Draisaitl genuinely outscores Nuge at 5v5 by some distance, 1.82 to 1.28. But looking at primary EV points, the gap seems to close.

For comparison sake, Ebs comes out with 0.55 G/60, 0.43 first A/60 (total 0.98), Lucic 0.48 for both (total 0.96).

This a pretty rudimentary analysis, but I thought it would be interesting to break it down further considering three of the above players have spent a lot of time with McDavid, and one hasn’t. I would presume its easier to pick up both primary points and secondary assists with 97.

With Nuge coming out 2nd best out of the group (and I haven’t done 97 WOWYs either), it seems he might not be the problem offensively when it comes to 5v5 scoring. No one seems to do great at 5v5 over a large sample, outside of Maroon and McDavid.

I realize this does look a very cherrypicked analysis on behalf of a noted Nuge supporter, but I thought i would look into the numbers to get some idea of what’s really going on.

Completely unrelated: after all of the leaks, Russian interviews and trade requests that surfaced during Nail’s final season in Edmonton, I thought I’d look up what he thinks of his current situation in St. Louis.

Lo and behold, there isn’t an article to be found. Lack of a hockey fishbowl? Or have he and Larionov finally outgrown their (perceived) immaturity and decided to play out the contract and re-evaluate Nail’s options this summer? I can’t believe the only articles I can find on the young man are from November and December. Nail Yakupov, gone and forgotten.

I hope he lands somewhere (Arizona, Vegas), but what a sad end to an NHL career. The ’07-16 Oilers really did produce a bushel of young offensive players that rightly or wrongly were moved to other teams for pennies.

If anyone has any articles on Yakupov’s current situation, I’d love to read them.

Aron_S:
Completely unrelated: after all of the leaks, Russian interviews and trade requests that surfaced during Nail’s final season in Edmonton, I thought I’d look up what he thinks of his current situation in St. Louis.

Lo and behold, there isn’t an article to be found. Lack of a hockey fishbowl? Or have he and Larionov finally outgrown their (perceived) immaturity and decided to play out the contract and re-evaluate Nail’s options this summer? I can’t believe the only articles I can find on the young man are from November and December. Nail Yakupov, gone and forgotten.

I hope he lands somewhere (Arizona, Vegas), but what a sad end to an NHL career. The ’07-16 Oilers really did produce a bushel of young offensive players that rightly or wrongly were moved to other teams for pennies.

If anyone has any articles on Yakupov’s current situation, I’d love to read them.

It more of less boils down to that he’s performing like a 4th liner with 4th line minutes. Could see it from a mile away that a team coached by Hitchcock and later Yeo would have little use for him.

His career performance is generally directly influenced by his ice time, so he doesn’t necessarily outproduce or underproduce the amount of minutes he plays.

Alpine: Another Nuge point is that in the 282 mins he’s played with Kris Russell, he’s running at 42.8 CF% and 15.4 GF%. 15.4! That’s insane!

So insane I had to go look it up myself. And it’s true. Some added context: Nuge has the 4th most minutes with Russell among defensemen at EVs. TOI together is about 20 percent less than the most–KBomb & Larsson.

*SPAM ALERT *
I was interviewed recently on the Candid Frame podcast –a show hosted out of LA by Ibarionex Perello. It’s a podcast about photographers and their lives, etc. Over its nine years names like Mary Ellen Mark, Sam Abell, Elliott Erwitt, Jay Maisel have been interviewed.

And now, somehow, me. I do not belong there. My interview was what I would call awful. I was coming off a cold. The host did not know much about me and it was our first time talking.

My mother already wrote to me with an email list full of things to do differently. Ummm… No next time on this, Mom.

It’s so embarrassing that I am not even going to listen to myself. Hate the thought of it.

What would be even more embarrassing would be if I end up being the least listened to interviewee ever.

So, if I may ask the community here if they could please download the episode (iTunes or Google Play or on the Web), of course it is free. I just don’t want the host to be angry with me. Haha.

Also please don’t actually listen to the interview. I am too embarrassed to face you afterwards. But 2 years into my journey down this path my name is somehow on a list I never thought I would make. P.S. You will all recognize the setting for the image used to show my work.

He’s got a great tool box but didn’t learn how to put it all together. We can fault coaching for now imposing an iron fist and using the AHL but there are plenty of players that develop well without extensive AHL work.

spoiler: So insane I had to go look it up myself.And it’s true.Some added context:Nuge has the 4th most minutes with Russell among defensemen at EVs.TOI together is about 20 percent less than the most–KBomb & Larsson.

Bad GF% numbers with most the defense too. Only with Klef, Lars, Benning are they normal. Most of the CF% WOWY spreads are normal (48-50% range). Likely has something to do with the difference between playing toughs with Nuge, vs with McDavid vs facing softs with neither.

With Klef-Lars, Nuge does well in presumably tough minutes. Sekera’s RNH number has Russell influence, and Nurse/Gryba can’t handle better opposition than 3rd pair. Benning plays a mix of easy minutes vs tough and usually has Sekera vs the tough.

He’s got a great tool box but didn’t learn how to put it all together. We can fault coaching for now imposing an iron fist and using the AHL but there are plenty of players that develop well without extensive AHL work.

What a shame……

I would like to see a full practise of Yaks because you would think that with his skill attributes, he’d be able to find his way into a lineup for more than 35 games in a season.

It must be a mix of him being impossible to play with (lack of chemistry) and maybe being one of those guys who screws up every drill in practise to the point that the coach just doesn’t want to reward him.

Too offensively minded (defensive positioning, how does it work) to play with bottom 6 guys and too ‘being chased by bees’ too play with top 6 guys.

NYCOIL "Gentleman Backpacker":
*SPAM ALERT *
I was interviewed recently on the Candid Frame podcast –a show hosted out of LA by Ibarionex Perello. It’s a podcast about photographers and their lives, etc. Over its nine years names like Mary Ellen Mark, Sam Abell, Elliott Erwitt, Jay Maisel have been interviewed.

And now, somehow, me. I do not belong there. My interview was what I would call awful. I was coming off a cold. The host did not know much about me and it was our first time talking.

My mother already wrote to me with an email list full of things to do differently. Ummm… No next time on this, Mom.

It’s so embarrassing that I am not even going to listen to myself. Hate the thought of it.

What would be even more embarrassing would be if I end up being the least listened to interviewee ever.

So, if I may ask the community here if they could please download the episode (iTunes or Google Play or on the Web), of course it is free. I just don’t want the host to be angry with me. Haha.

Also please don’t actually listen to the interview. I am too embarrassed to face you afterwards. But 2 years into my journey down this path my name is somehow on a list I never thought I would make. P.S. You will all recognize the setting for the image used to show my work.

NYCOIL "Gentleman Backpacker":
*SPAM ALERT *
I was interviewed recently on the Candid Frame podcast –a show hosted out of LA by Ibarionex Perello. It’s a podcast about photographers and their lives, etc. Over its nine years names like Mary Ellen Mark, Sam Abell, Elliott Erwitt, Jay Maisel have been interviewed.

And now, somehow, me. I do not belong there. My interview was what I would call awful. I was coming off a cold. The host did not know much about me and it was our first time talking.

My mother already wrote to me with an email list full of things to do differently. Ummm… No next time on this, Mom.

It’s so embarrassing that I am not even going to listen to myself. Hate the thought of it.

What would be even more embarrassing would be if I end up being the least listened to interviewee ever.

So, if I may ask the community here if they could please download the episode (iTunes or Google Play or on the Web), of course it is free. I just don’t want the host to be angry with me. Haha.

Also please don’t actually listen to the interview. I am too embarrassed to face you afterwards. But 2 years into my journey down this path my name is somehow on a list I never thought I would make. P.S. You will all recognize the setting for the image used to show my work.

Lowetide: I should have said ‘proven’, as the Oilers have plenty of options but not many proven ones. I also think you could trade Nuge (which I don’t want to do) and replace his two-way skills for much less. If Leon is moving back to center, running Eberle-Puljujarvi seems a reasonable way forward. Counting on Pitlick (injury), Slepys (unproven) or Kassian (he might be the best option to be honest) for 1R and 2R offense seems a stretch. Eberle may be the one to get to the end of his contract among the Austins.

Thanks LT, that clears it up.

As much as it pains me to say, if you put a gun to my head and said “one of 93 and 14 must be traded, pick one” I pick 93.

It’s become clear to me over the past 2 years that 14 drives a line more than 93.

You nailed when you said that you can replace 93 for much cheaper than 14 if the plan if 97-29 as your 1-2 Cs.

Godot is not a troll. What has this place come to when long standing posters are denigrated as trolls by relentless fanboys?

Newsflash people. This is not, and has never been, primarily a site for Oiler fans, and there certainly is no loyalty clause. I really resent how so many newcomers have taken it upon themselves to enforce their own misguided sense of loyalty to the regime. You are the ones who are in the wrong place.

Bruce Wayne: Godot is not a troll.What has this place come to when long standing posters are denigrated as trolls by relentless fanboys?

Newsflash people.This is not, and has never been, primarily a site for Oiler fans, and there certainly is no loyalty clause.I really resent how so many newcomers have taken it upon themselves to enforce their own misguided sense of loyalty to the regime.You are the ones who are in the wrong place.

Funny, I’ve seen Godot hashtags about Todd being a mediocre coach almost every day. I can’t recall Godot ever really saying ‘why’ Todd is a mediocre coach (he probably gave an in depth analysis, I just can’t remember seeing it). If someone new joins the site, all they see is a barrage of hashtags with little to no other substance.

Being a long time poster doesn’t give you a free pass on making bad posts.

Bruce Wayne: Godot is not a troll.What has this place come to when long standing posters are denigrated as trolls by relentless fanboys?

Newsflash people.This is not, and has never been, primarily a site for Oiler fans, and there certainly is no loyalty clause.I really resent how so many newcomers have taken it upon themselves to enforce their own misguided sense of loyalty to the regime.You are the ones who are in the wrong place.

OMG, Trump was right!!! It says ‘Oilogosphere since 2007’ and every excellent post is about the Oilers, but it’s all #FakeNews! The Oilers don’t even exist!

Mate, you sound like people that write letters to the editor of periodicals. Rev up that outrage bus! All aboard! “Dear Sir, with regard to your recent picture of a class 4 Deltic Diesel Locomotive, it was clearly a class 5! And what has the world come to? The other day I happened to mention to some young ‘gentlemen’ that we were clearly on 1989 rolling stock, made in Swindon coachworks, when they told me to mind my own business! I’ve been trainspotting for over 40yrs, whilst they’ve barely done 35! The nerve! Yours furiously, Albert Axegrinder, Edmonton.

I like to imagine how ice time being allotted as more sophisticated than screwing up drills in practice but he certainly seems like the kind of player that’d do that. I certainly doubt it’d be an ‘attitude issue’ as that would contradict his behaviour in front of the camera. The kid just has youthful exuberance that’s hard to hate even if he is being ‘chased by bees’. In fact, that almost makes him seem more endearing.

I just wanted so bad for him to be good. That first season under Kreuger seemed like the best we’ll ever see out of him. I’m pretty sure he’ll go to the KHL and maybe come back once he matures.

Bruce Wayne: Godot is not a troll.What has this place come to when long standing posters are denigrated as trolls by relentless fanboys?

Newsflash people.This is not, and has never been, primarily a site for Oiler fans, and there certainly is no loyalty clause.I really resent how so many newcomers have taken it upon themselves to enforce their own misguided sense of loyalty to the regime.You are the ones who are in the wrong place.

Side: Funny, I’ve seen Godot hashtags about Todd being a mediocre coach almost every day. I can’t recall Godot ever really saying ‘why’ Todd is a mediocre coach (he probably gave an in depth analysis, I just can’t remember seeing it).If someone new joins the site, all they see is a barrage of hashtags with little to no other substance.

Being a long time poster doesn’t give you a free pass on making bad posts.

I like to imagine how ice time being allotted as more sophisticated than screwing up drills in practice but he certainly seems like the kind of player that’d do that. I certainly doubt it’d be an ‘attitude issue’ as that would contradict his behaviour in front of the camera. The kid just has youthful exuberance that’s hard to hate even if he is being ‘chased by bees’. In fact, that almost makes him seem more endearing.

I just wanted so bad for him to be good. That first season under Kreuger seemed like the best we’ll ever see out of him. I’m pretty sure he’ll go to the KHL and maybe come back once he matures.

I agree. There has always been a sense of, more to like than to hate, with Yaks. Plus you can see the raw talent there. Has great hands, a kamikaze shot, will play physical and work hard, even if it is for only 15secs shifts.

The sad thing is, I have been reading the site before Eakins was coach. I didn’t start an account until recently. I think my memory of godot’s posts has been overwritten by an endless stream of #########.

Side: Being a long time poster doesn’t give you a free pass on making bad posts.

There’s a difference between “bad posts” and “troll”.

Originally, it meant someone who writes deliberately incendiary things online, with the goal of disrupting conversation rather than forwarding it. Someone who is not trying to say anything, but is just there to piss all over everything.

It is coming to mean, “someone who refuses to stop passionately disagreeing with me.”

“Troll” is becoming the most denigrated once meaningful word since “hipster”.

EDIT: To be clear, I don’t think you’re wrong on bad posts. Not all non-troll posts are good.

Those guys that did the first season of the Backhand Shelf Podcast on The Score were absolutely amazeballs. I’d listen just to hear their banter even though they’d talk Leafs. Have a listen if u need inspiration.

Rocky: Took you long enough to get here. Took you ten years to come to my house. Huh, what’s the matter? You don’t like my house? Does my house stink? That’s right it stinks! I didn’t ask no favours from you! Don’t slum around me! Talking about your prime. What about my prime Mick!? Least you had a prime! I didn’t have no prime, I didn’t have nothin’. Leg’s are goin’, everythin’s goin’. Nobody’s gettin’ no nothin’. Guy comes up, offers me a fight. Big deal, you wanna fight the fight? Yeah I’ll fight the big fight. I’m gonna go and fight that big fight and you know what’s going to happen to me? I’m gonna get that! [punches mattress] I’m gonna get that! [punches mattress] And you wanna be ringside and see it? Do ya? You wanna help me out? Huh!? Do you wanna see me get my face kicked in!? Leg’s ain’t workin’. Nothin’s workin’. They go “Go on fight the champ”. Yeah I’ll fight him. Get my face kicked in. And you come around here, you wanna move in here with me? Come on in it’s a nice house! Real nice! Come on in and move! It stinks! This whole place stinks. You wanna help me out? Well help me out! Come on help me out, I’m standing here!

Hey George, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you go from a history grad into trading stocks?

I don’t mind at all. I was in UBC, 2nd year. February my dad died while I was up in Whistler with my girlfriend. My last talk with my Dad had not been a good one. It was a tough time. My mom’s from Hokkaido in Japan–which is kind of like Alberta in many ways with all the nature, mountains, lakes, but add the sea to the equation. In fact, my Dad had forged a sister relationship between Alberta and Hokkaido in the 1980s. Also, you can kind of blame my Dad in a way for all the Japanese tourists in Banff. He lobbied to get then Canadian Pacific flying Edmonton-Tokyo and Calgary-Tokyo direct. Alberta had a thriving office in Tokyo–biggest next to Ontario’s office and it could have been Edmonton and Calgary that became the focus of Japanese visits and investment and trade, not BC, if Ralph hadn’t been short-sighted and killed the whole thing, but that’s another story.

Anyway, grandparents on my mom’s side were very worried. My dad’s folks had passed away long ago (Owen Sound). So my 14-yr old sister, mom and I went to Japan for the first time in about 6 years that summer. We had been poor after Dad got cut by Klein and we moved out to Vancouver in hopes of a rebound…not so much. So I kind of needed to find a job while in Japan.

Being bilingual and all, I wrote to a few folks in Tokyo about looking for a summer job. I went door-to-door, resume in hand, talking to folks at Intel, IBM, etc., etc. Finally, there was a Canadian gentleman at one of the major investment banks. He had studied Japanese in college and was fluent. He had shown up in Tokyo in 1985 and my Dad had helped him get a job then and get settled into Tokyo. My Dad had set this thing up called the Tokyo Canadian Club to help Canadians connect in Tokyo. We’d have video tape recording showings of playoff hockey games and Grey Cup games and Canada Cup games and other big tilts at the pubs near the Embassy. I remember wearing my Oil silks to them well as a kid.

Anyway, this gentleman remembered my Dad fondly and me, too. But we hadn’t met in 12 years. He wanted to know how my Japanese was. So he had me read and translate the Nikkei newspaper for him (like the Wall Street Journal)– lots of finance lingo. I didn’t know what I was reading but I could read it. It was tough. I mean…convertible bond? What? As a history major I had no clue. Evidently it was good enough for him. So he introduced me to a guy who was in charge of portfolio trading. They told me they were starting up an intern program. So they asked me a bunch more logic and math questions, which I answered and then offered me a job. Paid $80 a day. I took it. Didn’t realize I would be on 15 hour days and thus be less than minimum wage, but hey, the experience was priceless.

I ended up working there not just that summer but the next as well. I worked my tail off. Proved my self useful. Out of 32 interns they gave 2 job offers. I was one. I went back to finish my degree. Of course, like an idiot I picked an Honours program so I had to write a bloody thesis and defend it. That paper was very nearly the death of me. Finally, I finished it and defended on a Thursday in September. The following Tuesday I was in the office in Tokyo. They threatened to give my job to someone else because I was 2 months late in arriving.

I asked for a job in Research. Thought I could do that…makes sense right? I said anything BUT trading please because it was so stressful. September 11th had happened a year earlier. I had gotten the job offer just under the wire (but needed to finish my degree first). Anyway, jobs were scarce. You can guess what happened next, but they told me the only job opening was in trading. So that’s where I went. The week I arrived, they cut 20% of the office workforce in Tokyo. I arrived hated by my colleagues as I “took the spot” of their far more expensive friends.

My starting salary was 6 million yen back then. Sounds like a lot, but it was about $50K. Which does not go far in Tokyo when a 400 sq ft apartment within a reasonable commuting time costs $2k a month. Poof, there goes half your pay right there. My first bonus was 1 million yen, or about $8K, for a year of 5am wakeups and catching the midnight train home to seep 4 hours while living alone and feeling very, very lonely in a giant ass city. The stuff they tell you in the movies, it might have been like that in the 1980s, but it wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be. Most people in finance are pretty “normal” folks. In fact, I am doing a photo project about them now in Tokyo. People live well, for the most part, but only a select few get paid millions.

I’ve gone on way too long now. The coffee in the percolator is ready and it’s time for me to edit photos while I listen to the game.

Thanks, sounds like you have some unique connections and made the best of them with your hard work. Interesting story!

I’m graduating university this spring, and I’m curious/apprehensive/anxious about what my next move in life will be, so I always find it interesting to hear stories from people who didn’t necessarily work in a field related to their degree. I appreciate you taking the time to share.

Thanks, sounds like you have some unique connections and made the best of them with your hard work. Interesting story!

I’m graduating university this spring, and I’m curious/apprehensive/anxious about what my next move in life will be, so I always find it interesting to hear stories from people who didn’t necessarily work in a field related to their degree. I appreciate you taking the time to share.

If there is one bit of wisdom in my story, it’s to build your networks in your down time. See, I don’t think that my Dad ever thought being a nice guy to someone would result in their helping me when he was gone. He did it because he was a nice guy and cared, not because he wanted something in return. But his good deeds led to a lifeline for me. Photography similarly came about because I was a good person in my class with Sam Abell and next thing I know I am going on photo trips to Japan with him. I had no thought of let me be nice to Sam to be able to ask for his help.

My former colleagues now let me photograph them for my project because they respect what I am doing and also remember me as being a decent fellow to be around. More than a few have told me they would only feel comfortable being photographed by me. They invite me into their homes with their newborns, etc., to shoot as I see fit.

Other than specialty fields like medicine, engineering, etc., I think you will find that what it says on your degree is largely irrelevant to what it is people will deem you capable of doing. I think that they just want to see that you can actually see something through, i.e. 4 years of college and do it well. You could study biology and easily do the job of an investment banker with some experience. Sure, and MBA is nice, but it is only one path. I’d wager most people in finance did not study finance at all in school.

What a fantastic story, thank you for that. I was travelling around Hokkaido a few years back on a snowboarding trip, and out of all of the places in the world I’ve been, it might have been the most unforgettable. I was also very pleasantly surprised to find a cultural obsession with scotch, as if that place wasn’t after my own heart enough already.

I remember reading guys at Fear the Fin talk about how McLellan wasn’t the best at identifying and deploying young talent during his time in San Jose. According to the same people, he also overplayed his veterans almost to a disadvantage at times.

So far in Edmonton we see McDavid playing 23 minutes a night for most of the year because he couldn’t cobble together a third line (some of this is GM’s fault) but there’s Slepyshev sitting in the press box.

The Oilers are still a somewhat addled team in certain areas, albeit one blessed with supreme talent. Times ticking on the talent though.

Todd Macallan:NYCOIL “Gentleman Backpacker”,
What a fantastic story, thank you for that. I was travelling around Hokkaido a few years back on a snowboarding trip, and out of all of the places in the world I’ve been, it might have been the most unforgettable. I was also very pleasantly surprised to find a cultural obsession with scotch, as if that place wasn’t after my own heart enough already.

Hokkaido is like a prairie ivy league campus. . . in the mountains. . . stuffed full of mellow Japanese people. I wouldn’t need to throw in that caveat, but Japan gets associated with Tokyo.